History DarkAndTroubledPast / Film

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Ming's stressful childhood and her suppression of the resulting emotions is the reason why she is so much of a ControlFreak.

** Natasha Romanoff [[spoiler: was raised by "parents" who were secretly part of the KGB. One day after a close call with the U.S. Army, [[ArchEnemy General Dreykov]] had her father imprisoned and she and her sister Yelena were taken to the Red Room, where they were permanently steralized and [[TrainingFromHell brutally trained]] to be soulless killers.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'', the reason why Branch lost his colors, refuses to sing, is a bit of a GrumpyBear, and is massively (but rightfully) paranoid of the Bergens attacking is because [[spoiler:when he was a kid, his singing attracted a Bergen, and Branch's grandmother got eaten when she tried to save him]].

* In ''Film/DeathGrip'', Kenny and Mark lost their mother in a house fire. They both have unresolved guilt over it. The fire was started when Kenny was playing flammable material outside and the mother died because Mark locked the door behind him due to his AmbiguousDisorder, trapping his mother in the burning house.

* ''Film/NotOkay'': Roman survived a school shooting in which her sister was murdered. She still has panic attacks where she's triggered by things which remind her of it. Her mom also survived the shooting, since at the time she worked in the front office there.

* ''{{Film/Compulsion}}'': Saffron suffered from an abusive mom who had pushed her toward stardom no matter what, causing Saffron's anorexia over anxiety as she constantly chided her to keep her weight low. [[spoiler:Worst of all, she even had Saffron be raped by a casting director for her to get a role.]] As a result, Saffron is not only still anorexic decades on, but also wishes to die.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{ToyStory2}}: Jessie used to belong to an eight-year-old girl named Emily who as devoted to western culture. Soon, she lost the one person who cared about her to make up and more feminine activities and picked up claustrophobia.

** Queen Elsa goes through [[MyGreatestFailure her greatest failure]] [[HarmfulToMinors as a child]]. She strikes her sister Anna in the head with her icy powers, causing her to fall unconscious. The trolls heal Anna and remove her memory of the event and her sister's magic, but she still comes out with a [[SkunkStripe white stripe]] in her hair, thanks to the ice magic. In case you thought that seeing your sister's white stripe of hair and being reminded of your largest mistake wasn't bad enough, the trolls also warn her about the potential of mobs attacking her if she doesn't learn control, which also makes her fear for her life. Then her father tries to protect her from such a fate by keeping the magic a secret (even from Anna) and isolating her, locking her up in the castle. This essentially drives the entire plot and is the reason why Elsa is so detached from her sister and avoidant in general.

* In Sidney Lumet's ''The Pawnbroker (1964)'', the main character is traumatized by what happened to him and his family in a WWII Nazi concentration camp. He hasn't been able to work through his issues, which causes those unpleasant memories to regularly flood his mind.

* Both Eddie and Sarah in ''Film/TheHustler'' have this; she even lampshades it when they first meet.

** Wanda Maximoff probably has the worst treatment of this. [[spoiler: She was only a child in war-torn Sokovia when her home was bombed, killing her parents and a UXB (a Stark Industries missile no less) landed in her living room, trapping her and her brother Pietro underneath it. They wrre then taken by Hydra, who performed unethical experiments on them and turned them into the brainwashed young adults were were introduced to.]] It only got worse from there.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:''

** To be even more specific, in [[VideoGame/MaxPayne the game]] the movie is based upon, his family when her family got killed by V-head junkies [[spoiler:as part of an attempt to silence Max's wife for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]] about Project Valhalla]]. Tragically, [[spoiler:Max's wife didn't have a clue what the memo meant and wanted to talk to Max about it, but he didn't listen to her because he had to go to work for the day]].

** To be even more specific, in [[VideoGame/MaxPayne the game]] the movie is based upon, his family got killed by V-head junkies [[spoiler:as part of an attempt to silence Max's wife for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]] about Project Valhalla]]. Tragically, [[spoiler:Max's wife didn't have a clue what the memo meant and wanted to talk to Max about it, but he didn't listen to her because he had to go to work for the day]].

* Shifu himself; [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned by his lying and scheming father]] and left on the doorstep of the Jade Palace, he eventually became one of Oogway's greatest and most dedicated students. Forming the original Five with his fellow pupils, he was forced to leave it all behind when Fenghuang turned to the dark side and Oogway's hand was forced to bring her down. His adopted son, Tai Lung, also soon turned [[UsedToBeASweetKid from a sweet and affectionate cub]] into a proud, arrogant and violent individual [[ItsAllMyFault (in part due to Shifu's parenting - which he knows)]] and his son broke his leg trying to get the Dragon Scroll, forcing him to leave his son in Chorh-Gom Prison, stripping him of his joy for a long time.
* [[TragicVillain Lord Shen]] definitely had one of these. Neglected by his parents due to his weak, sickly physique and albinism, he began displaying signs of mental illness and sadism when he discovered the destructive side of fireworks. When he heard of the prophecy of a "warrior of black and white" destined to bring his end, he became desperate to avoid this fate, leading to his [[MoralEventHorizon genocide against the Pandas.]] He was then banished by his parents for his actions, which he saw as a final sign they never loved him and became obsessed with conquering China to make something of himself.

* Manny in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ice Age}}'': his wife and son were slaughtered by human hunters, which is why he's so grumpy and cynical. Even after he falls in love with Ellie in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge2TheMeltdown'', he becomes overprotective of her in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge3DawnOfTheDinosaurs'' for the exact same reason. And after Peaches' birth in said threequel, he becomes EXCEEDINGLY overprotective of her in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge4ContinentalDrift'' for the same reason as well.

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* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning'' reveals how King Triton's beloved wife Queen Athena was accidentally struck to her death by the ship's hull, which led to him banning music from Atlantica and the merpeople from going up to the surface in grief. After the incident, King Triton became over-protective of his daughters - especially Ariel - and displays his racism towards humans for his wife's death.

** In ''Film/TheWolverine'', Yukio’s first premonition was her parent's death, and after she was forced to watch it come true, she became a street urchin scavenging for food until Ichiro Yashida found her and adopted her under his wing.